Short Story #157: The Little Girl From Town by Ruth Suckow

Title:  The Little Girl From Town

Author:  Ruth Suckow

Summary

Book cover: he Bedside Book of Famous American Short Stories edited by Angus Burrell and Bennett A. CerfPatricia is a young girl from the city who is brought to her Uncle's farm for a visit.  Her uncle, Dave Lindsay, brings her to the Sieverson's farm as he has some business with Mr. Sieverson.  When they arrive, the Sieverson children are all curious and excited about a new visitor.  Patricia is quiet and shy and knows very little about farm life.  The children rush to explain and show off to her.  The two girls attempt to protect Patricia while the boys go back and forth between slightly antagonizing her and trying to gain her affections.  They are all enamored with this child who finds everything at their farm to be different and strange.  They introduce her to different elements of the farm and watch her marvel at things or explain how they are done in in the city.  Towards the end of the story, after she's been introduced to a baby cow, she throws a fit at the idea that her uncle is bring a calf to town to be turned into veal.  Dave agrees not to take the calf but tries to explain and Siverson is left with trying to figure out how to get the calf to town.



Reflection

The story contrasts well the differences of city and rural life with Patricia's awe of the animal life on the farm and wanting to personalizing it while the children of the farm think nothing of drowning kittens or killing chickens.  However, the children are are equally enthralled with Patricia and the world she inhabits.  That's probably the best part is how each group is mesmerized by the other's type of existence.  

Short Story #157 out of 365
Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)
Date Read:  6/2/2014
Source:  The Bedside Book of Famous American Short Stories edited by Angus Burrell and Bennett A. Cerf.  Random House, 1936. 

For a full listing of all the short stories in this series, check out the category 365 Short Stories a year.



Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and check out some of my other posts!. You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by signing up for them via email.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Comments